1. Studies in Jonah Jonah 01

2. RUNNING AWAY FROM GOD Jonah Chap 1 v1-3 Jonah 01

3. INTRODUCTION We are all of us aware of the procedure known as word association. If I say “black” you would most likely say “white”, If I say “thick” you may well say “thin”. But if I say “Jonah” the word you will invariably think of is the word “whale”. And yet the great fish that is mentioned in 1.17 holds a very secondary place in the message of this great book. The great fish is often a red herring that has distracted people from what God is really saying. This has resulted in this book being the subject of a great deal of ridicule. Yet its message continues to have tremendous contemporary relevance.

4. BACKGROUND The events recorded here took place 800 years before the birth of Christ, when the ancient eastern world lived under the shadow of Assyria. The cruelty of this sadistic heartless war-machine is recorded in Nahum 3. 1-5a. Now the political analysts of Jonah’s day were aware that Assyria was in the process of empire building. In next to no time Israel would be annexed and plundered as Assyria moved south to confront the waning power of Egypt. This is the background that lies behind God’s call to Jonah go to wicked Nineveh the capital city of Assyria. If you are looking for an analogous situation, imagine God sending someone from the U.K. to Germany, in the late 1930s to tell Hitler and the Nazi movement to repent of their sin or else. Jonah’s was no easy commission. Had the post been advertised in the church press, I don't imagine there would be too many applications.

5. Assyrian Empire 824 BC. Assyrian Empire 671 BC. Jerusalem Nineveh Persia Arabia Egypt Lybia Phrygia Greece

6. The fact that God was determined to send Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh, tells us much more about God than anything else. For we are confronted with the sheer undeserved mercy of God. And it is this mercy which is one of the central lessons of the book. Men so often want to interfere with God's mercy and tell him what people he should favour and those he should not. They want to take God in hand and tell the Almighty how he should respond to men. This apart from being a gross presumption betrays a basic ignorance of the nature of mercy.

7. For mercy is God's undeserved favour towards people in need. It is the outgoing of his compassion to those who have no rightful claim to it. Mercy is not drawn out from God because of some human merit or worth but because God is by nature merciful. We are told that he delights in mercy. And the prerogative for the exercise of mercy must ever lie with God. What are the words that thunder from O.T. to N.T. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy“ Ex33.19. The implication to men is don’t dare try to dictate to me those on whom I should or shouldn't be merciful.

8. A second great theme expounded in this book can be framed by the question, "What happens when God's will comes up against a contrary human will?" Notice in v2 God says to Jonah "Its my will for you to go to Nineveh and preach to that people" and Jonah's response in v3 is "Not likely I'm off in exactly the opposite direction". That conflict continues today. God says to the Christian, 'Do such and such' and their response is ‘No, that's not a good idea'. What does God do? Does he crush the human will and so accomplish his purpose with a ruthless hand? If God had been that kind of God he would have created robots with no wills of their own, a compliant people who responded to the press of a button!

9. Or, does God respond to this conflict by shelving his plans until we change our minds. If he did he would no longer be the sovereign Lord of creation. He would have given away effective control to his wayward creatures. Or, does God respond to conflict by saying to men, “You have made me reconsider, your grasp of the situation is clearer than mine I will follow your advice”? If he did he would no longer be worshipped as the all-wise God. What then does God do when there is a clash between his will and man's will? The book of Jonah provides the answer.

10. A PROPHET ON THE RUN What made Jonah run away? 1.Was his difficulty with understanding or obedience? 2.He was prejudiced towards the people to whom he was sent 3.He wanted to protect his reputation as a prophet. 2 Kings 14.23 4.He may have allowed others to become his conscience. 5.Was Jonah's disobedience encouraged by his attitude to guidance.

11. A PROPHET MAKING A LOSS 1.Jonah “fled from the presence of the Lord”. v3 2.Jonah would have known Psalm 139 3.He was running from a place of fellowship. 4.God would not allow neither physical distance nor spiritual neglect to silence, for long, the booming voice of conscience that said, "Obey God". Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12. 5.Did the fare cost his life’s savings? 6.Did the trip appear inviting – a well earned holiday? 7.Did he promise his conscience he would engage in some holiday evangelism when he arrived in Spain?

13. COUNTING THE COST There is always a cost to our disobedience. 1.It can be material- Jonah got no refund. 2.Wasted years of potential service 3.Wasted health 4.Wasted enjoyment. Christians who rebel against God often speak of two miseries. They can find no enjoyment in God and the disobedient lifestyle they have adopted offers no real satisfaction either. In every sense of the word they are all at sea and their disobedience does not offer them the protection or enjoyment they had hoped for.

14. CONCLUSION 1.We do not need to leave home, church or job to run away from God. 2.The Word of God that once warmed our hearts now leaves us cold and hymns that we once sung with joy leave us feeling dead inside. 3.All of that could be tremendously discouraging. BUT The story of Jonah reveals a God who deals graciously and mercifully with his servant. Even if that means sending a violent storm into his life. God loved Jonah too much to let him sail off into a spiritual desert.